Posted on 8-1-2002

GM Ethanol-Powered Pickups
Source: GreenBiz.com

DETROIT, December 31, 2001 – General Motors Corp. USA has announced that
its next incarnations of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra will roll
out with the option to run on ethanol fuel. According to GM, this offering
means it is the only automaker to have a full-size E85 pickup in its fleet.
Vehicle production is expected to begin in early 2002.

E85, which is a renewable fuel made from starch crops such as corn, helps
reduce air pollution and dependence on oil. In addition, E85 vehicles meet
U.S. Department of Energy mandates for alternative fuel vehicles. GM notes
that the E85 Silverado and Sierra join GM's E85- compatible truck lineup:
the Chevy S-10 and GMC Sonoma compact pickups, the Chevy Tahoe and
Suburban, and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL sport-utility vehicles. GM says the
E85 compatibility feature will be offered as a special equipment option on
select 1500 series Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras equipped with the
5300 Vortec engine.

Ethanol is domestically produced from agricultural products, so the supply
of ethanol is virtually unlimited. Brazil has been running domestically
manufactured Volswagon beetles on ethan from its massive sugar cane crop,
for thirty years.

The use of ethanol can help reduce overseas oil imports. In the USA ethanol
is made primarily from corn, but in the future it could also be produced
using waste wood, sawdust or grasses, or any cellulose containing
materials. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies have shown that
high-blend ethanol fuels can reduce harmful exhaust emissions by more than
50 percent. There are thousands of E85 vehicles on the roads in America,
logging millions of miles every year. E85 vehicles are flexible-fuel
vehicles, meaning they will run on whatever is in the tank, from 100
percent gasoline to 85 percent ethanol. They run best on E85. Tom Stephens,
GM vice president of vehicle integration engineering, said, "Using E85
makes sense because it is a renewable transportation fuel. Although GM's
E85 compatible vehicles can use gasoline, we want to encourage the use of
E85 whenever possible." Currently, the Chevrolet S-10 and GMC Sonoma
4-cylinder pickup trucks are GM's E85-compatible vehicles.